This article, by Chris Zelkowich appeared in today's Toronto Star. I'm not sure I'm too keen on the ramifications, but I guess we'll see.

"On Friday, the CBC announced it had won Canadian broadcast rights to all FIFA soccer events, including two World Cups and next year's world under-20 championship, through 2014. It's a $25 million deal that does more than just give CBC summer programming.

It's a deal that says loud and clear that anyone who thinks the CBC is going to give up Hockey Night In Canada and the CFL without a fight is dead wrong.

Sources say the CBC outbid the competition by several million to reclaim the World Cup package from the Rogers Sportsnet-TSN-CTV consortium that earlier beat the public broadcaster to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics. That usually means the winner wanted this badly, which is no surprise considering the CBC needed a win more than the Detroit Tigers do. If the CBC can do that for soccer, surely it can do the same when its lifeblood contract is decided sometime in the next year or so.

The FIFA deal also includes broadband, mobile and radio rights, the kind of multi-platform offerings that many consider to be among the competition's strength.

Not surprisingly, the CBC was touting the strengths it hopes will keep hockey on the public airwaves.

"What FIFA was looking for was breadth of coverage," CBC Sports head Nancy Lee said yesterday. "I think the national coverage in English and French along with Telelatino (carrying games in multiple languages) meant a lot."

There are reasons to wonder if this deal is the best thing for soccer fans and taxpayers.

At this point, CBC isn't promising to show almost every game live, as the Sportsnet group did this year. While saying she will have to wait to see a schedule, Lee did say the CBC will consider selling off some games "if the business makes sense."

That means some could end up on The Score, Sportsnet or TSN, which would be fine. We'll assume the CBC won't reopen the Pandora's box called Country Canada again. Regardless, it's doubtful CBC will air as many prime-time repeats as the Sportsnet group did this year.

Some are also wondering if this is the best use of taxpayers' money.

Considering that Ottawa might soon look at a proposal to eliminate commercials on the CBC, this could turn out to be a financial disaster four years from now. But a network that spent tens of thousands of dollars on newspaper ads to pat itself on the back this weekend apparently isn't concerned.

And is world soccer really part of CBC's mandate?

"Soccer is big in Canada and getting bigger," Lee says. "We felt it's a perfect fit for us."

Regardless, it's a big victory for the beleaguered network and one that sends out a strong message to its competitors. And the more strong competitors in the business, the better for fans."

It was good article that i read about online today...Here's the link to it...
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1158531019522&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064&t=TS_Home

The news about CBC covering the world cup gives me mixed reactions:
Firstly, I really enjoyed the World Cup previously being solely on TSN, and then on both TSN and Sportsnet. It was great becasue both those channels focus solely on sports. Those channels covered every single match live, even showing games at the same time live. The duo of Sportsnet and TSN was a dream come true for the soccer fanatic. My worry is that CBC is NOT a sports channel, it has a widerange of interests (including sports), I hope that this does not mean that the Wolrd Cup will get less coverage, and less live matches.
Secondly, I think the CBC thing has one MAJOR benefit. CBC is a channel that is available to basically everybody who has a television, TSN and Sportsnet is pay-tv so its audience was limited. The fact that the Wolrd Cup will be on CBC means that many many more people will have access to the finest sporting event on the planet, this can only be good for the game of soccer in Canada!

This is bloody retarded. No more Vic Rauter and Dick Howard?!?! Not to mention Craig Forrest who has been an outstanding panelist over the past two World Cup tournaments and Euro 2004. If I recall correctly, Dick and Vic have been covering the world cups on TSN since Italia 90!!! Gerry Dobson has been a good addition as well. Arggghhh.



Who the hell is the CBC going to bring in...a bloody misfit like Bob Lenarduzzi?

GREAT point Maradonna! Rauter and Howard are awesome! The World Cup would not be the same with out them. Forrest and Dobson were terrific as well. I just assumed that they would work on cbc as well. Lenarduzzi would be a nightmare, they had some old player on cbc or ctv for a few matches in 2002 - was it alex bunbury?- anyways he was abysmal. I can just imagine brian williams and scott russell doing it...URGHHHHH.

Knowing the CBC, it'll probably be Ron McLean and Don Cherry. Seriously, can you imagine knob-heads like Don Whitman and Scott Oake covering the World Cup? Picture Steve Armitage interviewing Wayne Rooney

The CBC has screwed up everything else (see curling and 2006 Olympics) so I see no reason to be the least bit optimistic over their coverage plans.

As for reaching more people, I really don't think that's an issue. The true fans will make sure they see the games no matter what, and with cable and satellite in the vast majority of homes, it's doubtful CBC will reach that many more homes than TSN/Sportsnet.

The only saving grace is that because the next World Cup is in South Africa, all the games will be live during the day and not at peak time, so we should be able to see the vast majority live.

Having said all that, and reiterating my dismay at this turn of events, on the positive side, the fact there was a bidding war suggests that soccer is becoming a hot commodity in this country and the fan base is expanding therefore making the advertisers sit up and notice. That should translate into more games for us to watch.

my comment about targeting a larger audience wwas not directed at current soccer fans, but rather at those who are yet to become fans. I must say I loved the bit about Steve Armitage -- that image is to funny. I fully agree, CBC should stick to HNIC and leave the World Cup alone.

Now, being an ex-pat from the UK, I thought the coverage of the World Cup 2006 by Rogers-TSN was poor for the standard of football coverage I am use to. HOWEVER, for a Canadian broadcaster they did not do too badly and basically copied everything ESPN/ABC did in the style of coverage. There was no interactivity and the commentry was simply as bad as my spelling of the word!

I do mostly agree with the comments on this forum to the fact that CBC messed up the Olympics so how the hell can they think they can teleivse a sport they never show and who the hell is gonna host it? The best bet would be to just simulcast with the BBC/ITV in the UK and have done with it! At least then you will have host who don't look like they are reading from a pre-written script!

What I would like to see is CBC broadcasting all games live on their main network and Country Canada, however, allowing Country Canada to be see by everyone.

You KNOW whats gonna happen though, don't you? CBC will sell off some of the games to The Score and we all know how bad they are at covering live events, with their bloody ticker/bar/thing at the bottom while the broadcast is shrunk into a corner. I remember watching an EPL on The Score and they interupted the game for COMMERICALS

Oh well, we will have to wait and see. I guess a test run of the under-20's World Cup, next year, will show us what is to come.......

No way. ESPN’s coverage of the world cup games commenced 5 seconds before kick-off – with no 1/2 hour pre-game shows consisting of history, current team analysis, records, players, etc. The beauty of TSN/Rogers Sportsnet coverage is that they showed the teams emerging from the tunnels onto the pitch, the national anthems, and everything else leading to kickoff – which is an integral part of the whole world cup experience. Furthermore, ESPN didn’t have any post-game analysis either whereas TSN/Rogers Sportsnet did.

i saw a few abc and espn feeds of the world cup and they were absolutely AWFUL!! There commentators were americans who did not know the game of soccer whatsoever. TSN and Sportsnet were AMAZING! They had good pre and post game discussions and then during the game they had a british feed for the commentating. It was First Class this world cup, I do believe that the coverage we had of this world cup was as good as any.

[quote="Man City FC"]Now, being an ex-pat from the UK, I thought the coverage of the World Cup 2006 by Rogers-TSN was poor for the standard of football coverage I am use to. HOWEVER, for a Canadian broadcaster they did not do too badly and basically copied everything ESPN/ABC did in the style of coverage. There was no interactivity and the commentry was simply as bad as my spelling of the word!

Well now that's very interesting. I'm also an ex-pat from the UK (and a Man City fan too), so I follow what's going on there very closely. The coverage in the UK was widely criticized, both for commentary and pre/post game studio analysis.

And since we were fortunate to have the english language world feed, we had the benefit of commetary from the likes of John Helm and Gary Bloom (both Englishmen), and I certainly found it hard to fault their performance. As for the studio crew, there is no-one better than Craig Forrest. Dobson and Rauter did well, but I'm not a big fan of Dick Howard. But as a team, they worked well.

All-in-all, I think TSN/Sportsnet should be roundly applauded for their efforts. Their production was first class, and considering that Canada is hardly considered a soccer mecca, i think we were very fortunate to get such a high standard of coverage. I doubt CBC will come close.

One last thought...I couldn't agree more with maradona's comment about showing the teams coming onto the field and the singing of the national anthems. Those were truly wonderful, and often very emotional moments and, In my humble opinion, an integral part of the coverage.

CBC----Take Note!!!! Do NOT, repeat NOT use the ESPN feed. Just leave the damn thing the way it is, and you won't regret spending our tax dollars, and neither will we. You have been warned!!!

Hooorray!!!! At damm last Canadians (and an ex-pat too) sticking up for something Canadian!

My first post, on this forum, was to try and spark a reaction, and I guess it did!!

Let the truth be told I liked that the teams were show being lead out and the national anthems sung etc. I think I am still use to the BBC/Sky TV coverage of football matches, its a reason I now have Setanta (VOD coming soon from ITVN/Setanta).

The UK World Cup coverage that was critised was the ITV (comercial TV) coverage. I spoke to many people in the UK who said the BBC (public TV) coverage was world class. I think the interactive part of digital TV, in playing a role in the coverage, could help.

Out of the Rogers/TSN team Dobson was the best. Craig Forrest (bless him!) is "Mr Tin-Man". I have family living in Australia who see him host all the soccer coverage on a TV station there. He hosts with a Brit who jokes around with him for being way too serious. Everytime Dick Howard spoke I just grabbed another beer (in true Brit-style!) as I can't stand the guy!

Anyways I am glad Canadians actually were defending Canadian TV content rather American TV for once. Its a little "bug-bear" of mine that people in this country like the American way of life a little too much more than a Canadian way of life. I studied media coverage (for commerical and quality needs) and there is always room for improvement, lets hope CBC don't "screw-it-up"!

Man City rocks, we all hate Chesterfield lalalalala